The present invention relates generally to a solid-state still camera for recording still video images and/or digital audio signals on a recording disk. More specifically, the invention relates to a solid state still camera with an indicator for the number of tracks remaining for video recording and audio recording. More specifically, the invention relates to a solid-state camera operable in at least a normal resolution mode and a high resolution mode, which camera includes an indicator for the number of remaining tracks on a recording medium disk for recording still image data and/or audio data.
In recent years, electronic or solid-state still camera have been developed which record still image data on a plurality of tracks on a magnetic disk. For example, such a solid-state still camera has been illustrated in the British Patent First Publication No. 2,112,603, published on July 20, 1983, and assigned to the common assignee to the present invention. The disclosed solid-state still camera is capable of picking up still image data in variable resolution modes. The particular still image recording mode providing normal video resolution will hereafter be referred to as "field mode" and the other recording mode providing higher resolution than the field mode will hereafter be referred to as "frame mode". In the field mode, one field image at normal resolution is recorded on one track on a magnetic disk. On the other hand, in the frame mode, one frame image of higher resolution is recorded on two tracks. The frame image may, for example, have twice the vertical resolution of the field mode.
The prior proposed solid-state still camera allows switching of the video recording mode between the field mode and the frame mode at any time.
Since the magnetic disk serving as a recording medium for the solid-state still camera has a fixed number of tracks, e.g. 50 tracks, the number of still images that can be taken will vary depending upon the selected recording mode. This makes it difficult for the user to count the number of used tracks and the number of tracks available for recording. In particular, when the magnetic disk is removed from the solid-state still camera before all the tracks have been exposed, the user may have trouble recalling the number of tracks already used and consequently may not know how many tracks are still available for video recording when the magnetic disk is re-inserted in the solid-state still camera.
In addition, a recently proposed solid-state still camera can also record audio signals. The solid-state still camera with audio recording ability has been disclosed in the co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 800,330, filed on Nov. 21, 1985, assigned to the common assignee to the present invention. In the disclosed camera, audio data for a given period of time, e.g. 10 sec., can be recorded on one track of the magnetic disk. This means, when one track is used for audio recording, the number of tracks available for video and/or audio recording is reduced. This makes counting the number of tracks available for video and/or audio recording even more difficult.